Monthly Archives: December 2011

As mobile devices become increasingly integrated into our lives as an extension of the personal computer; the same threats posed to our PCs creep into our day to day mobile phone and tablet usage.

According to a research paper released by the North Carolina State University, certain Android vendors including Motorola, Samsung, and HTC) are not following Android’s best practices for pre-installed apps. An undesired side effect of this negligence is that those applications access to send SMS messages, wipe a phone’s data, or even read your address books. In effect, they are able to do all of the aforementioned tasks without your knowing. This is stark contrast to Apple iPhone and iPad tablet propietary applications / OS practices which may be on your list of considerations.

As a Google prodigy, these Android vulnerabilities are not quite so present on Google phones such as the Nexus One and Nexus S. There are unfortunately some symptoms of an underlying weakness in the Android platform. This shortcomingpoints to an inherent flaw in the OS for its permissions-based exploits. Luckily today’s marketplace offers a variety of smart phone OS and device options. Discover the innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories from the industry's most leading brands.

Google and Motorola (now a subsidiary of the internet giant) have both acknowledged these issues. Interesting enough, HTC and Samsung have presented considerate difficulties for researchers in terms of reporting these issues. An interesting delineation between manufacturers, it may be in a consumer’s best interest to review unlocked phones for security purposes before locking into a contract with an unsecure smart phone.

The silver lining is that it is the likelihood of these soft spots being exploited is low. This is due to the necessity of side-loading an app on the device to interface with the permissions of the pre-installed applications’ weaknesses. But buyer bewares – the potential for serious privacy infringement is there. Be an informed and engaged consumer and take precautions when downloading applications from the Android Marketplace. Ensure that you are downloading apps from trustworthy sellers and take a few moments to read over reviews, protection, smart phone and tablet accessories and additional smart phone options at online retailers such as puremobile.com.

For those customers unconcerned with RIMs stellar security record, BlackBerry Messenger is a customer retention application. iPhone specializes in WhatsApp. Yahoo now barges into the mobile device fray with a free Yahoo!Messenger app - for those die-hard OS or smart phone vendor enthusiasts, you’ll be pleased with the implications Hub has for your next device purchase. Discover the latest innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories from the industry's most leading brands

Yahoo has fast been losing value as a search engine company against Google, so, the former has engaged in online content such as “Shine” and their Yahoo Messenger to continue driving traffic to its sites. View the latest unlocked cell phones .

Last Friday Yahoo announced the launch of Hub. This is a new text messaging application from the former search engine king. What sets this launch apart? A few things:

It permits smart phone users to not only text free of charge, but to create group chats a la BBM without being tied to an OS or carrier.

The beauty of this application is that it is device agnostic and compatible / communicable with any device with a phone number. The other phone doesn’t even have to have Hub installed to communicate (those messages are received as good ole fashioned SMS). Imagine the cost savings that enable you to explore customizable phone accessories or perhaps a tablet!

A further recommendation to Hub is its security features: private conversation threads - a luxury in the current Android, Blackberry and Apple environment of tracked locations, texts, and keystrokes. Luckily for Android users, Hub is available in beta as a download from Android market. Of course, the text app options are vast, especially for those consumers not tied to an OS, carrier, or smart phone manufacturer and open to reviewing the mobile device solutions available.

Accessories are designed to protect, personalize and enhance your mobile devices.

Most readers will have seen Tom Cruise’s Minority Report – remember that really awesome screen he reviewed clues and information on? So awesome. Even more awesome is when science fiction technology becomes a reality which is what Samsung cell phone YouTube video is promising in the coming year.Continue reading →

After some challenges with a first generation tablet, Motorola is unleashing its Xoom 2 in an attempt to garner a greater share of of the tablet market. At the moment Apple’s iPad is undeniably dominant and synonymous with “tablet.”

Armed with Honeycomb platform, the first edition Xoom was the first to market for the Android OS tablet. Based on industry reviews and tepid sales, Motorola may have been better served by taking its time developing a tablet that could better compete with the competition that was right on its heels. The Xoom contemporaries (such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1) stole the show with their faster speeds, sleeker look, and just plain sexier.

So has Motorola taken notes? It appears so. Xoom2 is indeed faster, sleeker, and generally less cumbersome (slimming down from 1.5 lbs to an oh-so-svelte .22 lbs). Scrapping the original screen, the reincarnated version boasts a Gorilla Glass-coated IPS screen that delivers 178 degree viewing angles (a la Droid Razr which is a dream to hold). Beware the copious smudges. Carry a cleaning cloth - an easy accessory to pick up with your additional tablet protective accessories.

There are micro-HDMI and mico-USB ports and the ease of multi-media integration is lovely, but they seemed to forget an SD option entirely. Storage limitations are also a consideration with 16 GB limit at the moment- to appease customers concerned with gigabytes, check the other tablet options to meet your unique needs. Enhance your mobility... turn your device into a power tool. Discover our select electronic accessories specifically designed to make your devices functionally efficient and performance rich

The Xoom2 may very well be the perfect tablet for some consumer’s... who can optimize device efficiency with stylus pen accessories, glider gloves for touch screen, extended battery life, and other fun gadgets. But, like any major purchase, it is best to do the research and take a few contenders out for a test drive.

Unfortunately, this market shifts at breakneck pace and has little room for manufacturers who can’t keep up and innovate and Motorola’s Xoom2 doesn’t quite meet the cutting edge quota (especially when considering cost and a dual-core). When compared to tablet industry darlings that flaunt a quad core and a perfect marriage of technology and beauty… Xoom2 loses luster.

To summarize the Xoom 2 is a stylish successor to the original Honeycomb tablet. The build quality is much improved, and Motorola is on the right track with those oddly shaped corners and built-in IR emitter. There has been an explosion in Honeycomb tablets since the first Xoom launched, and while the sequel does plenty right, it isn't enough to claim the head seat at the Android tablet family table. Fortunately, the Xoom 2 has bypassed Moto's tendency to over-tinker with the core Android experience on its phones, resulting in a pretty reliable tablet, although it still behaved erratically with video content. View the innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories from the industry's most leading brands

Most travelers would expect a European capital to have a bustling international airport. However, most first-time visitors to Finland would be in for a surprise. This Nordic beauty has a mere population of 5 million... hence, its Helsinki airport resembles a small regional airport . It may be home to global mobile phenomenon, Nokia, but its population doesn’t appear to be sufficient to keep the former industry leader ahead of the competition. In fact, the Taloussanomat report out of Helsinki is the loudest singing canary in the global coalmine – a drop in Nokia brand popularity from 76% to 31% in a short 12 month period. Discover the vast selection of unlocked phones in particular the Nokia smartphone phones .

The major change agent in this scenario? In an inability to independently weather the unknown market climes and customer inclinations, Nokia partnered with Microsoft and released the Nokia Lumia800 (worth comparing to other unlocked phone options). Despite an aggressive marketing campaign, consumers are still undecided on their verdict. View the innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories from the industry's most leading brands

Nokia was an industry leader when there wasn’t a truly global mobile device market and an accompanying level of global competition. Joining forces with Microsoft in February was a move intended to preserve its status in the mobile device industry. It currently seems to have inherently altered the flavor of the company and, in due course, its product and image. Even when taking the newest products out of consideration, this pairing appears to have alienated Nokia’s customer base. This perception could potentially be altered with an addition of tablets.

Efforts to appease those customers have a hollow resonance when compared to the Nokia of old. Even worse, with Stephen Elop’s statements regarding the Lumia800 being “the first real Windows Phone device,” the management of the co-branding is likely to alienate other Windows OS smart phone manufacturers like HTC, LG Mobile and Samsung. A conflict in culture, vision, and management are looking to be greater conflicts than the mediocre mobile devices launched by the Microsoft-Nokia conglomerate. Fortunately, online retailers like PureMobile afford consumers an array of unlocked smart phones and the latest fashion setting superior protective accessories to customize mobile devices.

In fact, since the Microsoft partnership Samsung has significantly jumped in Finnish market share (3% to 25%) followed by a 26% increase by Apple and more pieces of the pie gobbles up by Sony Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE. This may indicate a marked augmentation in Finnish inclination to peruse the unlocked mobile device market to meet their smart phone needs.

With all of these unfavorable markers the casual observer may infer the fall of a mobile dynasty, but this writer’s belief is that the partnership with Microsoft was a necessity to remain competitive in the growing global market. If Nokia can be as innovative and inventive in its mobile device accessories they will have an even greater chance of survival.

Unlocked cell phone? Good. International usage. Saves the consumer money. Jail broken OS? Bad. Major security concern that creates gaps for hackers to steal information as it is in one of the three states: At rest. In Motion. In use. Translation? Information shared or consumed on your smartphone is vulnerable anytime, anywhere.

RIM has a great reputation through its BlackBerry products for ironclad operating systems that kept messages sent over their network secure and encrypted as well as for their overall device security. These glowing features are why BlackBerry cell phones and PlayBook tablets are so widely used throughout the worlds of commerce and government -including Barack Obama - the President of the United States.

For the sake of security, let’s hope that President Obama isn’t using a BlackBerry Playbook as it appears the latest and greatest RIM OS being used on the device has proven to be jail breakable. Hence, vulnerable to information “borrowing.” Turn your mobile into Power Tools with the latest technological advanced accessories.

Anyone remotely following the mobile industry has likely heard the troubles of the bruised giant, RIM, the past year as it scrambles to keep pace with its competition. The result is an operating system that is more powerful and capable than its predecessors. It also has proven to have an Achilles heel where hackers have the holes to hack, break and manipulate what their predecessors have not been able to. Evidently a first in RIM history and an unfortunate blight on their impressive record.

As the tablet market is still dominated by Apple and their user groups are well aware of the sport hackers make of breeching their iOS, this news may seem paltry to the traditional RIM user. But going forward this same BBX OS is what RIM BlackBerry smartphones will be runs on! Discover the latest accessories for all your Blackberry devices.

There are an exponentially increasing number of incidents of malicious code being written to ferret out information - relative to feed the insatiable appetite of the multi-billion dollar black market data stealing. Consumers today are in dire need of innovative protection solutions and premium electronic accessories, antivirus protection, back-up and storage considerations.

If RIM doesn’t address the serious flaw in the BBX OS, their greatest market differentiator and credibility will be compromised to their largest consumer groups: government and enterprises. In a wild Wild West age, information truly is power and tangibly destructive as Julian Assange and Wikileaks globally demonstrated earlier this year.

My guess is President Obama will forfeit a little performance for peace of mind and eschew BBX until a fix is found.

If at first you don’t succeed, try again and try again! This age old adage is being followed by Chinese company, LeNovo. Yesterday they announced five new unlocked smartphones that didn’t overly impress the increasingly feature-centric and performance driven consumer market. However, today they released two LePhone droids that were more inspiring: the S760 and the K2.

The LeNovo LePhone S760 is quite compact with a 3.7” AMOLED screen, a 5 megapixel main camera and a 1.3 megapixel front camera. Its RAM is 512 MB powered by a single-core Scorpion CPU. If camera quality is an important feature, this phone may not do the trick and consumers will want to comparison shop other mobile device options. Wireless accessories are designed to protect, personalize and enhance your mobile devices.

On the other hand, the LePhone K2 is quite powerful: a dual-core 1.5GHz Scorpion CPU and a Qualcomm MSM8260 chipset. A full gigabyte of RAM is the cherry on top. Also sporting an 8 megapixel camera and 1080p video recording, this smartphone makes great use of the 4.3” IPS LCD screen. Consider top quality, innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories from the industry's leading brands.

As of now, there is no news on when these newest additions to the smartphone market will be made available to North America. Best case scenario is that eager LeNovo shoppers will be surprised with little boxes under the tree and stockings full of the fun gadgets and accessories!

With 2011 coming to a close, speculation on the upcoming technology of 2012 is beginning to run rampant. So, to help keep you in “the know,” here are a few smartphones, technology upgrades, and the like. Manufacturers will be releasing a plethora of new innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories to protect, personalize and enhance your mobile devices

Samsung

Samsung has had a great year with consistent performance with strong sales from its Galaxy cell phones coupled with its Galaxy Tablet and related mobile device accessories. To continue the momentum of 2011, Samsung will be launching the Galaxy Note - touted to be a “new category of product” in early 2012.

At the moment no specific carrier has been chosen to feature this smartphone, but with the revolutionary “buzz” around the release, it will likely be a time limited exclusive agreement with one of the larger service providers. Unlocked cell phone relieve dependency on service provider long term contracts... choose the service provider you want and negotiate a low cost service package that meets your lifestyle and needs.

How Global are smartphone consumers REALLY?

According to the mobile strategy firm, VisionMobile, there has been a marked increase in smartphone shipments in 2010-2011. In the same report, they also indicated that the use of global smartphones in comparison is rather lukewarm and tepid: 27%. One reason for this may be the limited global smart phones offered by carriers, especially in corporate purchasing plans and contacts. More and more consumers are personalizing their mobile devices with accessories that offer both superior protection and trend-setting fashion.

No doubt global smartphone shipments would jump to a more comparable rate if the major carriers offered greater choices, but the exclusivity of their phone offerings precludes the same array of choices available to consumers considering unlocked smartphones.

RIM – strategic play

Whether RIM has a fortune teller on staff or they were remarkably prepared to lose their greatest market differentiator (their secure OS). In light of this fiasco, they may retain their cherished government and enterprise customers with a new platform. It allows IT administrators to better manage the newest endpoints to the network: smartphones and tablets. In this rapidly consumer need driven mobility industry the beauty of this platform is that non-RIM OS platforms such as Apple and Android will be better centrally managed.

Is it any surprise that our tweeting, emailing, texting, and everything in between is leaving a trail of evidence behind us? After all, we live in a world where key logging technology can be purchased from almost anywhere. PureMobile offers unlocked phone, tablets and along with a myriad category of accessories to protect your mobile devices.

Not so long ago Apple was found to be keeping tabs on its iPhone users’ whereabouts. Now the Android developer Trevor Eckart has come forward with this discovery: his HTC EVO 4G is tracking each keypress, message, and location - this begs for consumer education and choice as these privacy threats grow. Review unlocked phones to avoid potentially harmful limitations in choice.

This stealth software belongs to the company Carrier IQ. It records on millions of other droids - not just HTC users, but Nokia, Samsung and BlackBerry as well.

Carrier IQ's position is that it doesn’t affect privacy concerns because; “Our technology is not real time. It's not constantly reporting back. It's gathering information up and is usually transmitted in small doses.”

They also dispute Eckart’s claim that his key presses were monitored, but with the use of a packet sniffer he was able to track each packet traveling to and from his stock EVO 4G. He was then able to show how each keypress on the numeric keyboard, his browsing data, and his SMS messages were tapped without his knowledge by Carrier IQ software. Get the latest in top quality, innovative protective solutions and premium electronic accessories from the industry's leading brands

The truth may come out in the wash with a legal battle, but in the interim Android users may want to consider alternative mobile devices to keep Big Brother at bay.

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